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Saturday, November 26, 2011

Giving Thanks for New Traditions

We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend-- our fifth together. We made it through our wedding last month (without killing each other or anyone else) and we're now happily married, we're healthy, and we're both full time employees at good companies (this seems like a given, but given our combined work history it is a real blessing). This year I am also thankful for the new traditions that we're creating with each other. During our 4+ years together and with our families in the south and on the east coast, figuring out where we will celebrate the major holidays and whether or not we will celebrate them together has always been a bit of a challenge for us. I think that, naturally, we both wanted to hold on to our old family traditions for just one more year. We had always talked about how once we had a family of our own, we would celebrate the big holidays in our home with our family creating our own traditions. We encountered that same debate again when discussing which destinations we would travel to for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year-- trying to weigh the cost of travel, taking time off, and to which family we "owed" which holiday when it suddenly dawned on us... why did we need to travel anywhere? Just because we don't have kids (or even a puppy, for that matter) doesn't mean that we don't have a "family." We are each other's family, so why not start creating those traditions and holiday memories now? And that's exactly what we did.

My little sister Emma flew out to Chicago on Thanksgiving day to celebrate with us in our new place. I cooked everything and was moderately successful-- I think the fabulous pumpkin pie made up for the subpar turkey. It was my first solo attempt at a turkey so I felt pretty good about the results despite the fact that after hours of roasting I am pretty sure it hadn't cooked all the way through... oh well. There's always next year!

Alex carving the bird... not looking too bad from this angle!

That is a good looking pumpkin pie, if I do say so myself.

It was really wonderful to have Emma in town to celebrate our low key Thanksgiving with us. And after living in Chicago for over three years, it was also really great to spend the holiday here in our city. Having Emma here was the perfect reason for us to go out and experience all of the kitschy holiday things that Chicago has to offer that we always talk about doing and say "we can always do that next year." We actually did it this year though-- shopping at the German Christkindlmarket, Zoo Lights at Lincoln Park Zoo, putting up our Christmas tree, and a trip to the movies on a rainy day to see The Muppets. Although Black Friday was a little crazy downtown, the city was sort of deserted for the rest of the holiday weekend, which made it all the more enjoyable. I'm not sure which, if any, of these activities will become our Colvin family traditions but I know we're both looking forward to next year (and the years after that) and to figuring it out.

Emma and me at the Christkindlmarket

The Colvins at Zoo Lights... My hair looks massive here.

Happy Thanksgiving from both of us-- I hope that your home was as full of love, laughter and good food as ours was!

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A Squared is all about life, love, and the pursuit of great food here in the fabulous city of Chicago. I love food: both cooking (it's my therapy) and trying new restaurants. You can also find me exploring Chicago, traveling, drinking wine, studying architecture, and spending time with my husband, friends & family. And I will share it all with you here.
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